The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-246267 (filed on Sept. 11, 1997), which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable endoscope in which an illuminating light supply unit for supplying illuminating light to a light guide is detachably connected to a control part of the endoscope.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In portable endoscopes having a light-emitting member for illumination provided in an endoscope control part, an entrance end portion of a light guide for transmitting light to illuminate an object is generally disposed in the control part, and an illuminating light supply unit is detachably connected to the control part. The illuminating light supply unit contains a light source lamp for supplying illuminating light to the light guide. The illuminating light supply unit further contains a battery or the like that serves as a power supply for the light source lamp.
When the illuminating light supply unit is not connected to the control part, the light source lamp need not be turned on. However, if the doctor forgets to switch off the light source lamp in the illuminating light supply unit as detached from the control part, it takes a long time for the doctor to become aware of the fact in many cases because the endoscope is not used. Consequently, the power supply battery is consumed uselessly.
The occurrence of such a problem can be prevented by providing, in addition to the hand-operated switch, a switch that performs a switching operation in response to attaching and detaching the illuminating light supply unit to and from the control part. This is, however, undesirable because provision of such a switch causes the structure to become complicated and large in size.